Longwall mining apparatus for accommodating flexible supply lines

ABSTRACT

A longwall mining installation composed of a longwall scraperchain conveyor on which a machine such as a plough is guided for movement. The conveyor has channel sections provided with housings on the side remote from the mineral face. Each housing is formed from two spaced side walls forming a channel in which a hose or some other flexible supply line connected to the machine is accommodated. Each housing has a cover member pivoted to the outer side wall and projecting inwardly thereof to close off the channel from the top. The cover member is spaced above the upper edge of the inner side wall to provide a gap which receives a guide arm attached to the machine and carrying the supply line.

United States Patent Erwien Jan. 21, 1975 LONGWALL MINING APPARATUS FOR ACCOMMODATING FLEXIBLE SUPPLY LINES Inventor: Helmut Erwien, Altlunen, Germany Gewerkschait Eisenhutte Westtalia, Westfalia, Germany Filed: July 31, 1973 Appl. No.: 384,231

Assignee:

Foreign Application Priority Data Aug. 19, 1972 Germany 2240870 US. Cl 299/43, 299/12, 299/34 Int. Cl. EZlc 27/35 Field of Search 299/12, 18, 32, 34, 43,

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS Wendt et a1. 299/12 X 299/34 11/1966 Binaut.......................

3,337,269 8/l967 Mennekes et 299/34 Primary Examiner-Ernest R. Purser Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Thompson, Birch, Gauthier & Samuels {57] ABSTRACT A longwall mining installation composed of a longwall scraper-chain conveyor on which a machine such as a plough is guided for movement. The conveyor has channel sections provided with housings on the side remote from the mineral face. Each housing is formed from two spaced side walls forming a channel in which a hose or some other flexible supply line connected to the machine is accommodated.

Each housing has a cover member pivoted to the outer side wall and projecting inwardly thereof to close off the channel from the top.

The cover member is spaced above the upper edge of the inner side wall to provide a gap which receives a guide arm attached to the machine and carrying the supply line.

14 Claims, 3 Drawing Figures PATEHTED JANZI I975 saw 1 or 2 FMENTED JAN 2 1 I975 SHEU 2 OF 2 LONGWALL MINING APPARATUS FOR ACCOMMODATING FLEXIBLE SUPPLY LINES BACKGROUND TO THE INVENTION The present invention relates to apparatus for accommodating a hose, cable or similar flexible supply line in a mining installation and to a mining installation employing such apparatus.

It is known in coal mining installations which have machines, such as ploughs, for winning coal from a face or seam to provide the machines with nozzles which emit sprays of water to suppress dust during the coal winning operation. The water is supplied to the nozzles from a hose which is dragged along by the machine. In order to guide, protect and accommodate the water hose it is known, in longwall installations, to attach a trough to the goaf side of a longwall conveyor on which the winning machine is guided.

The winning machine has a guide arm which projects over and into the trough from above and the water hose is accommodated within this trough and is carried by the guide arm. Some provision is necessary to ensure that the hose does not escape from the trough especially under the effect of the water pressure. To this end it is also known to provide a series of flexible loops of material over the top of the trough. These loops are designed to be displaced by the guide arm of the machine. It is found that these loops are prone to breakage and moreover debris and coal can fall into the trough from the top, which is substantially open, thereby causing the trough to become choked up with material. There is also the danger than an operator may be injured by reaching into the trough to remove debris when the machine passes. Other forms of means for retaining the hose in the trough involve pivotable arms spaced along the trough but the disadvantages mentioned above are also apparent with these known constructions.

With regard to the foregoing a general object of the present invention is to provide an improved form of apparatus for accommodating the hose, or similar flexible supply lines.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the invention there is provided apparatus for accommodating a hose, cable or similar flexible supply line in a mining installation; said apparatus being attachable to a longwall conveyor and comprising spaced side walls providing a channel and a cover member pivotably attached to one of the side walls and extending over the top of the channel to close off the latter, the cover member being spaced from the other of the side walls to provide a gap adapted to laterally receive a guide arm of a mining machine or the like connected to supply line accommodated in the channel.

In contrast to the known constructions the channel is closed off from the top by the cover member thereby preventing debris from falling into the channel formed by the side walls.

Although the invention is particularly concerned with accommodating a water hose it is apparent that hydraulic or electric cables can also be accommodated in the channel.

Further according to the invention there is provided a mineral mining installation comprising a longwall scraper-chain conveyor, a mineral winning machine.

guided for movement along the conveyor to detach mineral from a mineral face, a guide arm on the machine projecting away from said mineral face and supporting a flexible supply line and apparatus in the form of a plurality of housings attached to the goal side of the conveyor for accommodating said supply line, each of said housings being composed of side walls spaced apart laterally of the conveyor to provide a channel for receiving said supply line and a cover member pivotably attached to a side wall remote from the mineral face, said cover member extending over the channel to close off the latter from the top and being spaced from the side wall nearest the mineral face to provide a gap through which the guide arm can pass.

Preferably the or each cover member is pivotably coupled to the side wall of the channel remote from the mineral face with a resilient hinge made, for example, of rubber but it is also feasible to make the cover member from an inherently resilient material. The cover member may advantageously project laterally inwards over the side wall of the channel nearest the mineral face and may have a down-turned lip along its outer free edge. In a complete longwall mining installation a plurality of housings, i.e. the channels, each composed of the spaced side walls and the cover member would be allocated and attached to the individual channel sections of the longwall scraper chain conveyor. The conveyor may have spill or guard plates which additionally serve to support the housings. The cover members of adjacent housings are preferably interconnected by spring means permitting relative displacement between the cover members. In a convenient construction a leaf spring is affixed to one of the adjacent cover members and is slidably received in a guideway on the other cover member.

This provision enables the housings to adapt to any curvature of the conveyor and to the same end the side walls are interconnected by plates in such a manner as to permit displacement between said sidewalls.

It is desirable to provide bevelled portions on the cover members of adjacent housings in the region of the leaf springs.

The outer side wall of each housing remote from the mineral face preferably has inclined portions at its upper and lower ends and the lower inclined portion may abut on a support web.

The invention may be understood more readily and various other features of the invention may become more apparent from consideration of the following description.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS An embodiment of the invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. I is a diagrammatic sectional end view of a mineral mining installation employing apparatus made in accordance with the invention;

FIG. 2 is a diagrammatic sectional end view, on a somewhat larger scale, of the apparatus shown in FIG. 1; and

FIG. 3 is a side view of the apparatus'ta-ken in the di rection away from the mineral face.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT As shown in the drawings, a coal mining installation has a longwall scraper-chain conveyor 10 composed in known manner of a series of channel sections joined end-to-end. Each of these channel sections is composed of side walls having a generally sigma-shaped profile adjoined by a horizontal floor over which a scraper-chain assembly is circulated. The conveyor is arranged in the mine working alongside the coal face and the conveyor 10 has a winning machine in the form of a plough l1 guided for movement along its mineral face side. The plough 11 is provided with a sword plate 12 which extends beneath the conveyor 10. On the goaf side the conveyor channel sections are provided with spill or guard plates 15. Covers 17 are attached to these guard plates 15 with the aid of spacer elements 16 to thereby define an upper guide channel 18 and a lower guide channel 14. These channels l4, 18 receive an endless drive chain (not shown) which serves to propell the plough 11 along the conveyor 10 to thereby detach mineral from the face.

The sword plate 12 of the plough 11 has guide members 13 at its outer edge which are guided for movement within the lower guide channel 14. The drive chain is connected to these members 13 so that the propulsive force is applied to the plough 11 via the sword plate 12. The section of the chain in the channel 14 forms the haulage or traction run and the section of the chain in the channel 18 forms the return run. The upper channel 18 can be closed off at the top by inserts as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2.

The upper ends of the guard plates 15 are bent over towards the goaf side to produce a substantially horizontal top wall portion which supports apparatus made in accordance with the invention in the form of hous ings 19 one of which will now be described.

Each housing 19 is constructed from identical components attached to the guard plates 15 of the individual channel section of the conveyor and, for convenience the components of a housing associated with one of the channel sections are now described. The housing 19 has two upstanding parallel side walls 20, 21 the wall 20 being substantially co-planar with the upstanding portion of the associated guard plates 15 and the wall 21 being spaced towards the goaf therefrom so that the walls 20, 21 produce a channel open at the top. The side wall 21 has an inclined lower portion 22 which tapers inwardly towards the top wall of the associated guard plate 15 to adjoin a floor portion 23 of the hous ing 19 which abuts the top wall of the guard plate 15. The inclined portion 22 bears on one or more support pieces or webs which can be attached to the associated cover 17 by screws or bolts also used for securing the insert closing the upper channel 18. The insert may ad ditionally be welded to the plate 15. The side wall 21 also has a similarly inclined upper portion 24 which tapers inwardly towards the mineral face and extends above the upper end 20 of the wall 20. A cover member or hood 25 is pivotably connected to the portion 24 of the wall 21 by means of a resilient strip 26 made, for example, of rubber and attached to the cover member 25 and to the portion 24 with the aid of screws 27. The cover member 25 extends laterally over the wall 20 and is spaced therefrom to provide a laterally-open gap 28 between the upper end 20' of the wall 20 and the lower end 25' of a down-turned strip at the free end of the cover 25 (FIG. 2). Apart from this gap 28 the member 25 covers and closes off the interior of the housing 19 from the top.

As mentioned above the components of the apparatus, i.e. the housing 19 as described are provided on each individual channel section of the conveyor and FIG. 3 depicts the juncture between the components of the housings 19 on two adjacent channel sections. As shown in FIG. 3 the adjacent cover members 25 have upwardly bevelled portions 37 facing the juncture and the members 25 are interconnected by a leaf spring 32. This leaf spring 32 is connected with screws 33 to one of the members 25 whilst the other cover member 25 has a guideway 34 which slidably receives the leaf spring 32. This connection provides mobility between the members 25 at the junctures of the channel sections so that the members 25 can adapt to any curvature in the course of the conveyor 10. The walls 20 of the adja cent housings 19 are also connected by means of a plate 35 attached to the walls 20 with screws 36. Slots are provided in the plate 35 or the walls 20 to also enable the walls 20 to cope with any curvature of the conveyor 10. Preferably a lower part of each of the housings 19, such as the portion 22 of the wall 21 thereof, has apertures therein (not shown) which permit any debris material falling into the housing 19 to pass out from the housing 19.

The plough 11 is provided with a number of nozzles 30 which serve to spray water onto the mineral face primarily to suppress dust. The plough 11 has an overhanging guide arm 29 which extends through the gaps 28 and partly in the housing 19. This arm 29 supports a water supply hose 3], shown partly as a chain dotted line 3| in FIG. 1, which is connected to the spray nozzles 30 and which is partly accommodated in the housing 19. The hose 31 is connected to a source of water usually at one end of the conveyor 10 and as the plough ll moves towards the source the excess length of hose 31 is deposited in the form of a loop into the housing 19. As the plough ll moves back away from the source the hose 3] is then laid out within the housings l9. The particular shape of the cover members 25 and the disposition of the gaps 28 enables the hose 3] to smoothly form a loop and then unravel, as aforesaid, within the housings 19 as the plough 11 moves back and forth and the pressure of the water will not cause the hose 3] to escape from the housings 19. The bevelled portions 37 of the cover members 25 ensure that the guide arm 29 can pass smoothly over the junctures between the housings 19 and the resilient hinges 26 ensure that the members 25 can pivot upwardly should debris material become trapped in the vicinity of the guide arm 29 or should the guide arm 29 become raised.

I claim:

I. In an apparatus for accommodating a flexible line in a mine installation and comprising two spaced apart side walls providing a channel for receiving the supply line, the improvement comprising a cover member pivotably attached to one of the side walls and extending over the top of the channel to close off the latter and a gap produced by spacing the upper end of the other of the side walls from the cover member. said gap extending continuously and being unobstructed so as to serve to receive a guide arm of a mining machine connected to the supply line.

2. In or for a mining installation apparatus for accommodating a flexible supply line; said apparatus comprising spaced side walls providing a channel and a cover member pivotably attached to one of the side walls and extending over the top of the channel to close off the latter, the cover member being spaced from the other of the side walls to provide a gap which is continuous and unobstructed and which is adapted to laterally receive a guide arm of a mining machine connected to a supply line accommodated in the channel.

3. Apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the cover member is pivotably coupled to said one side wall with a resilient hinge.

4. Apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the cover member extends laterally over said other of the side walls.

5. An apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the cover member has a downwardly-inclined strip at its outer free edge.

6. A mineral mining installation comprising a longwall scraper-chain conveyor, a mineral winning machine guided for movement along the conveyor to detach mineral from a mineral face, a guide arm on the machine projecting away from said mineral face and supporting a flexible supply line and apparatus in the form of a plurality of housings attached to the goaf side of the conveyor for accommodating said supply line, each of said housings being composed of side walls spaced apart laterally of the conveyor to provide a channel for receiving said supply line and a cover pivotably attached to a side wall remote from the mineral face, said cover member extending over the channel to close off the latter from the top and being spaced from the side wall nearest the mineral face to provide a gap through which the guide arm can pass.

7. An installation according to claim 6, wherein the housings are allocated to the channel sections of the conveyor and the cover members of adjacent housings are interconnected by means ofa leaf spring permitting relative displacement between the cover members.

8. An installation according to claim 7, wherein each leaf spring is attached to one of the associated cover members and is received for slidable movement within a guideway provided on the other associated cover member.

9. An installation according to claim 7, wherein the cover members of adjacent housings have bevelled portions in the region of the leaf spring.

10. An installation according to claim 7, wherein there is further provided means for interconnecting the side walls of adjacent housings to permit relative displacement therebetween.

11. An installation according to claim 7, wherein each cover member has a downwardly-inclined strip at its outer free edge.

12. An installation according to claim 7, wherein each said one side wall has inclined portions at its upper and lower ends.

13. An installation according to claim 7, wherein the supply line is a water hose for supplying water to spray nozzles on the machine.

14. An installation according to claim 7, wherein the cover member of each housing extends laterally over the side wall of the housing nearest the mineral face and is pivotably coupled to the other side wall with a resilient hinge. 

1. In an apparatus for accommodating a flexible line in a mine installation and comprising two spaced apart side walls providing a channel for receiving the supply line, the improvement comprising a cover member pivotably attached to one of the side walls and extending over the top of the channel to close off the latter and a gap produced by spacing the upper end of the other of the side walls from the cover member, said gap extending continuously and being unobstructed so as to serve to receive a guide arm of a mining machine connected to the supply line.
 2. In or for a mining installation apparatus for accommodating a flexible supply line; said apparatus comprising spaced side walls providing a channel and a cover member pivotably attached to one of the side walls and extending over the top of the channel to close off the latter, the cover member being spaced from the other of the side walls to provide a gap which is continuous and unobstructed and which is adapted to laterally receive a guide arm of a mining machine connected to a supply line accommodated in the channel.
 3. Apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the cover member is pivotably coupled to said one side wall with a resilient hinge.
 4. Apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the cover member extends laterally over said other of the side walls.
 5. An apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the cover member has a downwardly-inclined strip at its outer free edge.
 6. A mineral mining installation comprising a longwall scraper-chain conveyor, a mineral winning machine guided for movement along the conveyor to detach mineral from a mineral face, a guide arm on the machine projecting away from said mineral face and supporting a flexible supply line and apparatus in the form of a plurality of housings attached to the goaf side of the conveyor for accommodating said supply line, each of said housings being composed of side walls spaced apart laterally of the conveyor to provide a channel for receiving said supply line and a cover pivotably attached to a side wall remote from the mineral face, said cover member extending over the channel to close off the latter from the top and being spaced from the side wall nearest the mineral face to provide a gap through which the guide arm can pass.
 7. An installation according to claim 6, wherein the housIngs are allocated to the channel sections of the conveyor and the cover members of adjacent housings are interconnected by means of a leaf spring permitting relative displacement between the cover members.
 8. An installation according to claim 7, wherein each leaf spring is attached to one of the associated cover members and is received for slidable movement within a guideway provided on the other associated cover member.
 9. An installation according to claim 7, wherein the cover members of adjacent housings have bevelled portions in the region of the leaf spring.
 10. An installation according to claim 7, wherein there is further provided means for interconnecting the side walls of adjacent housings to permit relative displacement therebetween.
 11. An installation according to claim 7, wherein each cover member has a downwardly-inclined strip at its outer free edge.
 12. An installation according to claim 7, wherein each said one side wall has inclined portions at its upper and lower ends.
 13. An installation according to claim 7, wherein the supply line is a water hose for supplying water to spray nozzles on the machine.
 14. An installation according to claim 7, wherein the cover member of each housing extends laterally over the side wall of the housing nearest the mineral face and is pivotably coupled to the other side wall with a resilient hinge. 